February 23, 2011 Bahamas Bank to Chub Cay, Berry Islands

            We woke up at 6am with a gentle shower - just enough to wipe the salt off the windshield from the previous day's crossing.  We pulled up the anchor as planned at 7am to start our day to go to Chub Cay.  Pekabu had been ahead of us and let us know that a pair of porpoises were headed our way.  They came along side of us to check us out. It was quite a sight in 11 feet of clear water.  They didn’t stay long as they were probably wondering what we were doing in their territory.

            We motor sailed for at least seven hours across the bank where the depth of the water was between 8 and 19 feet with the average being 13 feet.  We saw flying fish and two dorsal fins of “something”.  We were not quite close enough to see exactly what it was but our guess was that it was a shark.  I must explain the flying fish.  They jump out of the water and fly about eight inches above the top of the water for about a one half the length of a football field.  It was amazing. 

            We then proceeded across the north east corner of the “Tongue of the Ocean” where it drops off to 2800 feet. We meandered along Chub key and picked up a mooring ball at the Berry Islands Club.  For $25 a night you got a shower and, additionally, they would take a bag of trash that you could give them off your boat.  We were not sure what the showers looked like yet since we were quarantined on our boats until we could get checked in at Customs.  The marina made arrangements for someone to take the three men to the Customs office at 8am the next morning. We had heard from a nearby boat what the procedure was and it sounded like a photo op so we were anxious to see if it lived up to all the hype.

            Martha and Dan went to a nearby boat to speak to them and they were told that the weather to travel to Nassau did not look good for the next four days.  Since we needed to be there by Sunday, we thought it would be a good reason to pick up early in the morning to head out.  We would decide at 6:30am whether to go or not.

            Pekabu made Beef Wellington for dinner that evening and we all enjoyed it to the fullest.